John Abraham to buy 13% stake in HIL’s Delhi Waveriders

John Abraham to buy 13% stake in HIL’s Delhi Waveriders 

Delhi Waveriders had reached the finals of the first edition of the HIL that was held in January this year but lost the final tie to Ranchi Rhinos. 

Actor-turned-filmmaker John Abraham has agreed to buy a 13% stake in Hockey India League's Delhi Waveriders team from real estate firm Wave group for an undisclosed amount. The purchase adds to a growing list of cine stars who have put their money in the business of sports. Wave was founded by Ponty Chadha, the UP-based liquor and sugar baron. 

The Hockey India League, which initially sold five franchise teams in 2012 for a combined 100 crore, had allowed the teams to sell a part of their equity in the second edition of the league. A new franchise - Kalinga Lancers of Orissa that was added to the league this year - was valued 30% higher than the teams that were sold when HIL was launched, indicating the success of the tournament. 

"John will be the brand ambassador for the team and will promote hockey and Delhi Waveriders. He will be there for all matches of the Delhi team," said a person close to the development, who did not wish to be named. In an emailed response, Ravi Sodhi, director of corporate communications for the Wave group, said: "As a policy, we at Wave do not comment on market speculation." John Abraham could not be contacted immediately. The other teams in the league are Mumbai Magicians, owned by the promoters of Dabur; Punjab Warriors of the Jaypee Group, Patel-Uniexcel group's Ranchi Rhinos; Uttar Pradesh Wizards, owned by Sahara India; and the latest, Kalinga Lancers owned by Industrial Infrastructure Development and Mahanadi Coalfield. 

Delhi Waveriders had qualified for the finals of the HIL's first edition held in January this year, but lost that match to Ranchi Rhinos.

At the player auction for the hockey league last month, the six teams spent $1.4 million for 49 players. Of the 49, 28 were Indians and the rest players from Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Argentina, Ireland, England and South Africa. Last year, the five franchises had spent $3.1 million to buy 120 players. At this year's auction, Sahara UP Warriors bought former India midfielder Ramandeep Singh for $81,000, more than 30 times his base price of $2,600. Kalinga Lancers paid $71,000 for New Zealand midfielder Ryan Archibald, while Mumbai Magicians offered $59,000 for Australian midfielder Trent Mitton. 

Several Bollywood stars have shown interest in sports over the past few years, but it has mostly been related to cricket.

Shah Rukh Khan is the co-owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders team in the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, while Preity Zinta co-owns Kings XI Punjab and Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra are part owners of Rajasthan Royals.

Salman Khan's brother Sohail Khan owns the Mumbai Heroes team in the Celebrity Cricket League. In the same league, Riteish Deshmukh owns the team Veer Marathi and south Indian actor Lissy Priyadarshan, who was popular in the 1980s, owns Kerala Strikers. 

Source : By Ravi Teja Sharma, ET Bureau